Little Falls transcript., 1887-02-25
WITH THE STAR HEELS,

WITH THE tsTAR HEELS"
Adventures OF massachusetts Man In N0rtl
Carolina.
talked with every one met on thu
cars and on horseback; asked aud an
swered all kinds of questions: stopped
over night wherever darkness over
took meat hotel. boarding or log
house-with mayor, parson or ''moon
sinners" and one and all treated mt
just as we'll as though I was as good g
Democrat and 'tar heel'' as Senator
Vancs: AS far as personal security
went, never felt more safe; though ir
most cases in the backwoods there
was no lock on the door, and in
some instances we all occupied
one room, yet lost not sc
much as q shirt~stud, and slept
without fear OF robbery or violence.
Possibly this is accounted for in part
by the fact that burglary is q ca pita]
offence in North Carolina. In one in
stance l was stranded in town on a
cold winters night at ~ o'clock, with
no place for shelter, and had a pros
pect Of sitting on the fence till the cars
started at 2:3O o'clock, as the depot
was locked. Some ladies going home
from q churh fair kindly invited me
to sit by the fire in their parlor and
to close the outer door when / left fol
the depot; they retiring and leaving
me, a stranger, to take care of my.
self. We do not treat tran1ps thus
at the North. Not an unkind word
was spoken to me during my sojorn
in North Carolina because OF my be
ing a Yankee, and I fell in with some
pretty rough and primitive charac.
ters while l was wandering about
among the moonshiners in the noun.
tains. One night, up in the King
mountain ranges, three rough noun
taineers rode in from their moonshine
still apparently the worse for apple.
jacks.
To be sure, they made themselves
at home, and stayed we'll into the
night, and smoked all my cigars, ply
ing me with questions, and were only
persuaded to depart for their mount
ain home, when my host had assured
them that was going to settle among
them at once. Once, up near the Roam
mountain, when Twas snow and storm
bound at MS ght, land compelled to sleep
in g. log store and take pot-luck with
the owners numerous but kind
hearted family, in an unguarded
moment made bold to ask a native
who lounged by the fire what the
weather would be on the morrow. He
grutfy replied, "Stranger, I amt q
prophet, or the son of q prophet, and
don't want you should ask me about
the weather." And he was right, for
it rained and showed for ten days af.
terward. Again I was snow-bound
aud housed in western town during
the first snow storm, when
the mail rider did not get
over his route for four days,
and when the snow was three feet deep
and the rivers ran ice and snow. TAX
ing up the pamphlet issued by this
county and baited for the northern
settler with balmy air, isothermal
belts, freedom from snow, etc., and, in
fact, consumpt1ves' paradise, I sent
out for the signers Of said document
and IN they soon came, stamping the
snow from leggings and boots and
growing at the weather. We sat be-
fore roaring wood fire, and calling
their attention to the snow without
the window they referring me to the
deep snow on Boston common--I sug-
gested that a confession was in order
and read from that Bermuda" pam.
phlet OF theirs. They acknowledged
the corn, but said the snow was phe-
and that, further, it was all
my fault, because, if had gone home
when ! ought to, I would not
have seen the snow; in fact,
I had stayed too long. But
in the main, found from personal
that the statements
made at the settlers convention were
substantially correct, though now
and then some land agent made some
rather wild statements in praise of his
section OF the state. But after care
sul examination OF the resources, de-
veloped and undeveloped, climate and
people OF this state, am as full OF
wonder at what I nave myself seer
as was ofincredulity at what Ihearl
at the convention. In some respects
this state IS behind the age, as in the
lien law, by which you can mortgage
what you have got; in the homestead
law, exempting $1,OO from levy
Tor debt; in an almost utter
lack OF savings banks; in the
harbarous notion OF compelling the
farmer to fence his crop and allow
ing the cattle king to Craze his cattle
at large. AS to politics, this state is
as variegated as in natural qualities.
Some counties arestrongly Democr at
ic; Others equally Republican. In
Yancy county, among the mica mines,
where I stopped several days, I saw
but two colored people, and yet Yam.
cy county is strongly Republican.
found q great many native North
Carolinians among the mountains
drawing pensions for services in the
Union army. Whole sections up in
the mountains defied both armies to
conscript their men, and spent good
portion Of their time during the war
in the woods. As to intimidation at
the polls, | saw none, and should
Judge from the returns that the count
was fair.
Very likely there are some laws in
force which give the whites advantage
over the blacks, but as a. general
thing, 50 far as my observation went,
the colored people are better treated
by the white than in any other
southern state.
I was in court when colored man
was being tried for killing another COL
ored man, and, on asking why his
Jury was wholly white, was told that
he was given the choice of being tried
by his own color or by whites, and he
chose the whites-wisely, it seemed to
me, as he'got of with seven years
sentence instead oflife or worse. While
listening to the trial OF this case, every